


Fate, As Black As Blood [haruspex]

by taichara



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:06:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2339555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the lost wish to know their destiny.  That knowledge can sometimes come at a high price.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fate, As Black As Blood [haruspex]

It was maddening –- or so he surmised, old memory like withered buds festering in his mind –- the way the Seventh slipped past his grasp, gazed back ever-so-briefly with those eyes of frozen gold before allowing his attention to slowly, pointlessly drift away.

It should have been maddening, and Marluxia had followed along with the evening-wolf's game long enough; and therefore found himself stalking tirelessly in the moon-dancer's wake as he made his way along the great curving balcony, the sanctum-platform of colourless stone beneath an empty sky ...

“You do not know what you ask, Number Eleven.”

Saix's words were soft, as calm and distant as the lost orb he seemed yet governed by.

“You do not know, and I see no reason to enlighten you.”

“Liar.”

The flower-prince closed the gap between them in ground-devouring strides, rose-rust shag of curls swinging in his wake; and he smiled poisonously as he began to circle slowly, phantom petals winking in and out of existence to cut and catch at Saix's flesh, draw tiny beads of ruby-tinged black.

“I know what I'm asking for.  
“You pierce the future with those inhuman eyes of yours ...”

... there was a flicker of expression, unreadable, across the moon-dancer's impassive features then;  
and Marluxia reached out languidly to run his hand heavily through Saix's dead-blue hair thick as fur, press fingers encased in midnight velvet against the thin mouth to feel the splinter-sharp teeth beyond, and see the bead of ichor slowly trail down the evening-wolf's jawline.

“If you _are_ capable of such a thing, how could poor new-lost me threaten you?”

The fingers trailed to the hollow of Saix's throat.

“-- Or maybe, just maybe, you _have_ been lying.”

“... We do not exist. We are no longer real.  
“More than the wind, the skies, _It_ \--”

\-- as Saix glanced almost instinctively towards the great lunar Heart growing, hung above them both --

“-- more than these, are required to divine for Nothing.  
“I do not believe you willing to make that sacrifice.”

“... And _He_ has been.”

“Yes.”

Marluxia eyed the impassive, fine-boned face, the brilliant gaze held still by the apparition hanging ripely above, and stepped lightly around the silver-silent moon-dancer to lean in close over one shoulder, murmur into one delicately-pointed ear, azure eyes sliding half-closed and voice a well-crafted purr.

“If I didn't know you were as empty as I, Saix --  
“I would almost guess you're _afraid_ , and trying to hide --*”

Swift as the night-wind, Saix was out of the flower-prince's grasp, turning to whirl into a half-crouch -– and one great spiked battle-blade flew unerringly from his hands, to crush Marluxia clear off his feet.

Then –- as the coral reaper-of-men answered the whiterose's call, and the brilliant corona of winglike petals unfurled warningly --  
a second blade thudded home to bite sharp lunargent fangs through unliving flesh and silk-soft petal to pin Marluxia to the icy flagstones.

Still calm as the abyss, Saix flowed forward to drive a third blade home through Marluxia's free shoulder, leaving the Eleventh writhing in agony and pinioned like the most fragile of blossoms, the death-bringing scythe fading in a scatter of dead petals as his will was shattered by the sudden assault.

“So, graceful killer in the dark, are you so willing now?”

As twin pools of frothing ink-black ichor pooled beneath Marluxia -- soaking into the soft velvets, staining shivering petals and clotting the heavy rose-rust curls –- Saix licked a few wayward droplets from his own mouth, offered him the thinnest of smiles, and knelt upon his thigh to pin him fast.  
Eyes gleaming like twin moons, he leaned across the heaving torso of his captive to trace bloodstained sigils down one cheek.

Marluxia stared back at him, silent as stone; and the small sharp smile displayed sharper fangs.

“I see that you are.”

As the blighted flower struggled and bled upon the colorless stone, Saix crooned a wordless chant, half-wild, deep in his throat; paused a moment as if in prayer, pulled his own midnight gloves free, and ripped the soft velvet of Marluxia's long coat open in one swift sure stroke to expose milky flesh tensed with pain.

With the most deliberate of motions, then, he trailed claws like splinter-sharp slivers of ice through the life-dark stain pooling around him; traced fey and coiling glyphs like wolf-fang runes in an elaborate trail from the flower-prince's throat to his groin, as Marluxia trembled and mewled beneath his touch.

The moon-dancer paused then, breathing deeply, one eye to the great livid Heart hanging above;  
then gazed into the half-lidded azure eyes, tracked quick patterns down one silky petalled wing, listened to the soft sounds from the whiterose --

\-- lifted one hand as he would a gleaming silvery blade, claws glinting; and tore the flower-prince asunder from throat to root.

Twin-moon eyes fixed _elsewhere_ , as the black-ruby tide washed over his hands.

With an artisan's sweet precision he slipped long fingers deftly within the exposed and darkly-tainted mass; almost as an afterthought leaned closer in to crush his supplicant's convulsing legs beneath him as he drew out the answers he sought, shining dark and wetly, across his hands and free from their pale cage of flesh and bone.

At length he glanced again at the stricken, shuttered eyes; reached with one blood-soaked hand to gently, slowly trace tear-trails down the pallid cheeks, hook a dainty moon-crescent claw in the soft mouth, trace an augury completed on the milky throat.

And he leaned in close to murmur to his supplicant-sacrifice, his face a tranquil mask:

“Feign joy, graceful killer.  
“Lord of the Void shall you become --  
“and the master of Keys himself shall fall into your hands.

“Have a care that you are not burned by your ambition.”

 

-*-

Hands stained still with his divination, trailing droplets like silky black petals in his wake, Saix came to the hollow king's dark court and bowed his head.

Burning-ember gaze unreadable, unquestioning, the nightmaster gestured briefly;  
an acknowledgment of the moon-dancer's presence, a release from the affected humility.

_:: It has occurred as you whispered to me, has it not. ::_

“Yes.  
“I have delivered him to Vexen; he may yet outlast the hour.”

_:: We shall see what he does with his sore-won knowledge. ::_

With a slow and breathless sigh, Xemnas left his high and darkened perch to glide soundlessly within arm's-reach, to lift one blood-laden hand to his own mouth as burning embers locked with frozen gold.

_:: And now, wolf-lord; show me what you have seen ... ::_


End file.
